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Acquisition (episode)
A group of interstellar thieves stun the Enterprise crew and begin looting the ship. Trip is the only one left to stop them, but can he do that in his underwear? Summary A Ferengi ship is closing on ''Enterprise''. The alien crew of the approaching vessel speak in an undecipherable language, although they seem to be discussing the Starfleet craft. They board Enterprise and find that the entire ship's crew is unconsious. Since the Ferengi are wearing environmental masks, they seem to have been informed of the crew's condition before boarding the ship. In reality, Trip Tucker brought back an artifact from a planet and the item released a sedative gas when T'Pol was examining it. Since Trip was in decontamination, he is the only one not affected. After disabling the gas device, the Ferengi then proceed to steal valuables from Enterprise and, unable to find any latinum, they wake the captain so he can tell them where the ship's vault is located. Although there is no vault aboard the ship, Archer realizes that he should pretend there is, to gain some time. When he is finally able to have contact with Tucker, he asks the engineer to wake others with the same hypospray the Ferengi used on him. Unfortunately, the hypospray is nearly empty and the only person Trip is able to wake is T'Pol. The three officers then begin playing a game of deception with the Ferengi, pitting them one against each other. With only minimal ruse, a Vulcan nerve pinch and a phase pistol set to stun, the four thieves are easily driven into a trap and subsequently disabled. They end up bringing all the stolen items back to Enterprise under the supervision of the ship's crew, who have since awakened. Memorable Quotes "Who the hell are you?" "Who we are is unimportant." : - Archer, Ulis "There are times I wish Vulcans hadn't learned to repress their violent tendencies." : - T'Pol "Are you calling me a thief?" "Everyone knows you'd steal the wax out of your own mother's ears." : - Ulis, Muk Background Information *This episode goes out of its way not to reveal the race to which the marauders belonged to, since official contact would not occur until well over two centuries later in TNG's "The Last Outpost". *Referenced Rules of Acquisition #6, #23 and #45. *This episode states that the sixth Rule of Acquisition is "Never let family get in the way of profit". By the 24th century, it will have changed (slightly) to "Never let family get in the way of opportunity" (DS9: "The Nagus"). *Ethan Phillips (Ulis) previously played Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager, Dr. Farek in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Ménage à Troi" and the holographic maitre'D in Star Trek: First Contact. *Clint Howard previously played Balok in the original series episode "The Corbomite Maneuver" and Grady in the DS9 episode "Past Tense, Part II". Howard's appearance in this episode makes for the longest time period between an actor's first and last appearances in a Star Trek TV series (1966 & 2002). *Jeffrey Combs had previously played several other roles, most notably Brunt, Weyoun, and Shran. This would be his only appearance on Star Trek: Enterprise not playing Shran. *We learn there are only 173 Rules of Acquisition at this point in history, as opposed to 285 by the 24th century. *The energy whip is seen here for the first time since the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. *T'Pol's masquerade as a "Vulcan Love Slave" might be the genesis of the Ferengi fascination with the idea, and the resultant holosuite program. *This episode was highly criticised by fans for the series' alleged abuse of established continuity. In an interview with the magazine Star Trek: Communicator, series writer Mike Sussman admitted that "Acquisition" may have stepped over the line. *The Ferengi PADD used in DS9, appears here with added LEDs as a Ferengi scanner. *The Ferengi vessel would later reappear in "Stigma" as the Dekendi ship that carried one of Phlox's wives. *"Acquisition" was once described by the creators as ENT's version of Die Hard, in which Bruce Willis fights terrorists in his underwear. *Being without his own uniform, Trip borrows a junior science officer's uniform and wears it throughout the episode. Trip is the only crew member to wear all three division color versions of the Starfleet uniform in the series as he would later wear the gold, command division uniform in the episode "Twilight". Links and References Main Cast *Scott Bakula as Jonathan Archer *Jolene Blalock as T'Pol *John Billingsley as Phlox (no lines) *Dominic Keating as Malcolm Reed (no lines) *Anthony Montgomery as Travis Mayweather (no lines) *Linda Park as Hoshi Sato (no lines) *Connor Trinneer as Trip Tucker Guest Stars * Jeffrey Combs as Krem * Clint Howard as Muk * Matt Malloy as Grish * Ethan Phillips as Ulis * Porthos References Anestesia; antimatter injector; armory; beetle snuff; Bolian; Chef; crow bar; DaiMon; dedication plaque; dog; Earth Starfleet; energy whip; Ferengi; Ferengi gas canister; Ferengi language; Ferengi starship (22nd century); Ferengi Rules of Acquisition; filtration mask; Gavarian starship (Gavarian); gold; injector assembly; latinum; latinum pen; lemon meringue pie; light bulb; Malurzian Zoo (Malurzian); micro-charge; NX class; oo-mox; phase pistol; pecan pie; scanner; serving case; spatial torpedo; Stameris; vault; Vulcans; Vulcan High Command; Vulcan nerve pinch; warp core; water; water polo Category: ENT episodes de:Raumpiraten nl:Acquisition sv:Acquisition